BVI SEA TURTLE PROGRAMME

A joint partnership between the Government's Conservation & Fisheries Department and ARK

If you are interested in tagging turtles with the Turtle Encounters Project - click here

The BVI Sea Turtle Programme has been around since the Conservation & Fisheries Department (CFD) was first established in the early 1980’s. The programme was initially based on CFD staff patrolling known nesting beaches but limited to the retrospective assessment of tracks and other signs of egg laying following the departure of a female turtle. In 1986, the BVI joined the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST), which provided training in sea turtle biology and management to the VI Government's biologists. With WIDECAST, CFD and other non-governmental stakeholders developed a national sea turtle recovery action plan (STRAP) that gave impetus to comprehensive habitat surveys, public awareness and data collection efforts in partnership with local fishermen which led to revised legislation.

By the late 1990's, CFD’s monitoring efforts included a nesting leatherback tagging programme. This programme identified the nesting leatherback (locally known as a Trunk") population had declined to less than ten trunks per season in contrast to the days when up to six trunks nested per night during the 1920's. However, by 2001 the nesting activity had significantly increased.

In 2001, the UK Government commissioned a three-year project to address critical gaps in the knowledge of marine turtle populations found in the UK Overseas Territories. The project, Turtles of the Caribbean Overseas Territories, known as TCOT, was launched in November 2001 and assessed the status and exploitation of the marine turtle populations found in the six Caribbean UK Territories.

Over a three year period and funding from the UK, CFD staff was further trained in turtle biology, conservation, monitoring and research techniques. Research included nesting beach and foraging site monitoring, genetic stock analysis, turtle tagging, socio-economic surveys, as well as volunteer programmes involving dive operators and tourists. Subsequently, this project brought a new dimension to turtle monitoring in the BVI.

TCOT efforts and funding were supplemented by the commencement of The Darwin Initiative in Anegada in October 2003. This project specifically studied the sea turtles, plants and birds of Anegada. However, after the projects ended, CFD continued efforts to monitor both nesting and foraging turtles using the tagging techniques learned despite the conclusion of both programmes and termination of funding provided by the UK Government.

A unique framework to support CFD's BVI Sea Turtle Programme came about in 2008 after the BVI Tourist Board recognised a sustainable financing mechanism that would financially benefit CFD's programme, but would also add a high end, eco-tourism product for visitors, a "Turtle Encounters" experience. What was a routine activity carried out by CFD's sea turtle research team (spending the day out on the boat catching and tagging sea turtles, collecting data and then releasing the turtles) could provide a unique learning experience for visitors while helping collect local research data about the BVI's endangered sea turtles and raising funds.​

In 2015, the Conservation & Fisheries Department partnered with ARK to create a business model that could generate much needed funding to further develop the BVI Sea Turtle Programme. This partnership has become what is known as the ​Turtle Encounters Project.

Published papers co-authored by members of the BVI Sea Turtle Research Team

Papers highlighted are most relevant specifically to the BVI and links to the papers are provided.

Avens L, Taylor JC, Goshe LR, Jones TT, Hastings M. (2009). Use of skeletochronological analysis to estimate the age of leatherback sea turtles Dermochelys coriacea in the western North Atlantic Journal of Endangered Species Research, Vol. 8: 165–177.